TTC GRADUATES! Onwards and upwards :-))

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babylove must have had minibabylove- WE WANT DETAILS!!!

just come back from DD's school xmas fair. I was on the decorating biscuits stall- lots of sticky fun but am feeling pretty knackered- and am going out with the girls tonight...

x

Come on babylove - We're all waiting!...

Seaside - can I ask if you are being cautious with what food you give Cassius? Has anyone suggested avoiding gluten for instance? Also are his poos runny, mucousy or anything strange? Sorry to ask but it does sound a bit strange that he is still losing weight for no reason.

Iammummy - like seaside have stopped sterilising all but dummies when they need cleaning. But I do believe that you should continue with sterilising bottle teats apparently

greedy - I am teaching dd to wipe from front to middle of underneath from the front for all pees, then if poo done then to wipe from behind from middle to back, if that makes sense?

ok got to go take the kiddies swimming. bye for now.. hope to hear from babylove soon?

Hi Everyone!

Babybabylove or minibabylove as you call her has arrived!

Katelin Amelia-May was born last Friday, 28th November at 9.11am. She weighs 7lbs 6 ozs and was 55cm long! Takes after her daddy (he's 6'6!)

I had a great labour (once it finally got really going) - only 7 hours and the average for a first baby is 12 - 15! I also achieved my goal - to only do it with gas and air. Dont get me wrong, next time it'll be an epidural but i'm glad i persevered and did it this way! My waters didnt break until i was fully dilated and then she arrived 10 mins later. Again, the midwives were amazed as the average pushing time is 2 hours!

My early labour started Mon night, contractions 10 - 12 mins apart, continued on like this till Wed aft and then they got harder and quicker, down to 4 mins in the end. Loaded the car up, drove 45 mins to hosp and got there at 11.30pm expecting to come home with a baby. Contractions were still 4 mins apart and wasnt on any pain relief - was told i was 3cm. Continued on till 6am and they started dying off. By 9am, they were 1 in 15. They told me to go to antenatal ward, i couldnt stick it there so i went home mid morning. I was distraught, cried and cried, i expected to walk through my door with my baby. So this is now Thurs aft, i havent slept for 2 days and im knackered! About 3.30pm, it all kicked off again, down to 1 in 8 etc but more painful. By 12am, they were 1 in 4 and i was screaming in agony. DP packed me in the car and drove me back to hospital. I was admitted to labour ward just after 1am and was 4cm, was pronounced as in active labour at 2amish. Well it was the worst thing i've ever been through! Dont get me wrong, i'd do it all again for her but i seriously cant get over how hard it was! The midwives were so good to me and i left at 5pm the same evening.

Oh and i have proved everyone wrong - all the way through my pregnancy i have been told i'd most likely end up with an assisted delivery if not a c-section coz im overweight and wont have enough muscle to push. Lets just say when i saw my midwife yest, she didnt dare mention anything regarding my PERFECT un-assisted, problem free birth and my resulting extremely healthy baby who got 3 apgar scores of 9!

I have to admit - this baby thing is harder than i expected! I'm sure all mums say that but she is the most beautiful thing in the world and i cant believe she is finally here!

This is the first time i've managed to get online since she was born, she is currently asleep in my left arm.

Thanks to all of you for your well wishes and thoughts, was really nice to log back on and read that

Big hello's to everyone!!!

aw huge congratulations babylove. amazing birth story!! welcome little katelin xxxxx
cherish every moment with katelin as the time just flies by!! welldone again xx

Babylove - congratulations on the birth of Katelin, enjoy every moment of her. Good to hear that the labour was ok.

Aw, huge congratulations babylove! What a lovely story and so so pleased for you that Katelin is here and healthy. And well done to you - the birth sounds sore but good. . It can be a bit overwhelming for the first few weeks but it soon settles and you'll soon wonder how you managed without her.

Who is next? Is it minxi then mrsmc, then probably rainbow and greedy (Ooops sorry greedy, forgot you weren't having a 4th ).

I am with you Iamamummy, I dont think I sterilised after about 7 or 8 months with Max and probably earlier with Theo. I think people get too hung up on religiously sterilising. Honey - Max was similar to your DS1, he had a bottle until he was at least 2yrs at night because he enjoyed it and I didn't see the long term harm. He also had a night time dummy til santa took it away when he was 3 - he didn't kick up a fuss at all because he was just ready to not have one. I fully intend to do the same with Theo as well as Max has turned out fine .

Well, actually talking about Max - to all those who have older boys (just greedy and honey I think?), do they have spells of being a bit naughtier and aggressive and then become nice again . Max has always been a little sweetheart - i mean he has his moments but he's generally a caring quiet sensitive wee boy. But the last week or so though he's much cheekier and is more aggressive - I dont mean that he actually hits people but he's just really boistrous and throws his stuff around etc and is shouting at us quite a lot. Just wondering if he's just growing up or whether something is bothering him. Probably not explaining it well, I just can see that he's changed. Having said that we have been refered to the hospital sleep clinic to confirm whether he has sleep apnea so if he does have it perhaps he's just having a bad spell.

Babylove - fabulous news!! So pleased everything went well! It does hurt doesn't it, but it's worth it!!!

Chooster - can't help on the boy front, but DD does have days/weeks of a being a terror and then she's back to her lovely angelic self for a few days. It has got a lot worse since starting school back in September, so I'm just putting it down to utter exhaustion. If he does have sleep apnea he'll be exhausted from that without the added stress of life on top, so it may be that. Only other time, DD has been really badly behaved was when she had a urine infection - not sure how frequenly boys get them?

Must go, my little lovely 14 month old terror is very poorly at the moment - so dribbly. Hope it is just his final 4 teeth coming through, but he's got conjunctivitis as well, so he's literally dribbling from every orifice on his head(except his ears!) lovely!! But he very miserable at times poor lamb.

Had DD's nativity at school this morning - it was fabulous!! Didn't cry though - hard-hearted mother that I am!

love to all

xxx

sorry chooster wasn't clear - DD had an undiagnosed urine infection for a few weeks. I just took her to the GP as like you I knew something wasn't right with her, although she seemed healthy enough. She had complained once of it hurting when she wee-ed and then never again even whwn I asked. I felt awful when the urine test came back positive. She'd suffered for weeks without complaining - just being a moody cow all the time!!!! I do love her lots!!!! Honest

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all of your well wishes, i appreciate it

Well we went for our first outing today - walked up into town and went to the supermarket, went round the town etc. Was about 1.5 hrs in total. Was nervous about it incase she woke up - would have been too cold to get her out of the pram and walk around with her. However she was spot on and slept the whole time! She was cooed over by everyone too - felt so proud. Finally after all this time, DP and i could go out and push a filled pram!

She is currently asleep on the sofa next to me. She hates her moses baskets - they're too big for her. This V pillow seems to surround her and make her feel safe. Obviously we dont leave the room with her on the sofa but whilst im sat here, it is good to have free hands!

Anyway, must go, got a load of paperwork to catch up on!

babylove - congrats on babybabylove arriving safely! you sound just like me when i gave birth. i couldnt believe just HOW much it hurt and how amazingly fantastic i was to have actually done it! our bodies really are amazing things arent they!? the way they just know what to do. well done you!! pictures on your profile please when you get a chance!!!

chooster - from my experience with both my older two, if they are tired they play up! i can ALWAYS tell if ellis is tired cos he is cheeky and with kiki she just whinges. but it oly happens when they are tired. i can never quite believe how a lack of sleep can change their personality so much, but when i think about it i am such a moany old bitch when i am tired im not surprised really! i reckon hes prob just overtired if his sleep is being disturbed. if he's normally lovely he will be back to normal before you know it!

hey fettle - glad you are back to posting properly again.......whats happened o your mate bodders hey?!! ellis gets UTIs and never says it hurts, so dont feel guilty about lexie, im sure she wasnt suffering.

stupid dh (who is really pissing me off at the mo for some reason!) is in Romania on business (who goes to Romania on business hey!?) so i am home alone for 2 nights which i HATE!!!

poor ickle marcy moo had her jabs today. they were at 4.30 and who was at ballet with kiki at 4.25 when she suddenly remembered!!!?? i had to race home and grab marcy off my mum and get someone else to bring kiki home!
so i am far too disorganised to ever have another baby!

dinner calls!!!

congrats babylove . You'll have to post some pics! Lovely to hear about your first family outing .

Hi everyone,

Had a bit of a weep today, the midwife came to do her heal prick test. Her screaming made me cry - i felt so awful her having to go through it. I know it doesnt hurt them as such but i just wanted to cuddle her and couldnt She also commented on her slight jaundice - shes had it for a few days but they've always said thats normal and not to worry. However today they weighed her and said that its normal for them to lose 10% of their body weight - shes lost 11%. This coupled with the jaundice meant they took blood off her for a test and told me they'd phone later and to prepare ourselves to take her to hospital. The midwife left and i just looked at her and cried - my poor baby, was it all my fault?

Tried to take our minds of it by going out for a walk and posting some letters etc but it was all i could think of. They phoned and i held my breath but they said it had come back as fine. Obviously she does have jaundice but it isnt serious and to just try to feed her lots to get rid of it. I burst into tears - the relief that passed through my body was incredible. I've never had anything like it - made me realise that i'm a mum (sounds silly eh?)

anyway, the midwife is coming tomorrow to check im feeding her right (i explained my milk only came in 24 hrs ago) so im sure that it'll be fine however i am nervous.

Whoops on the jabs Greedy - i have to write myself daily lists to get it all done!

Best dash, shes due to wake up soon.....

So pleased that she's doing well babylove - at least you dont have a hospital trip to make. Hopefully it will all get better soon once she gets lots of milk in her . Would love to see a pic when you get a chance. I really remember those weepy moments well - especially with DS1. I dont think I was too bad with Theo, but I remember real big juicy tears on about days 5 with Max.

Thanks Greedy - Yes, I think some of it is tiredness - also last night he had a bit of a fever and has developed a bad cough. So I reckon he is just poorly - although he's been a right little bugger. Anyway, early night I reckon - for everyone!

Babylove - must get to bed, but I just wanted to reassure you that both of mine had jaundice and it lasted quite a long time, but they are both fine. Just keep feeding her and keep her in the daylight as much as possible - a bit like a tomato plant - she needs natural light ( just hope for some light days and put her near the window!).

You probably already know this, but all babies are born with fetal blood - once they are born they need to convert this into 'grown-up' blood. While the fetal blood is breaking down, high levels of bilirubin build up. This causes the jaundice. Most babies can break it down fast enough that there isn't a noticeable increase in bilirubin levels - others don't and hence get jaundice. There are obviously serious reasons for the jaundice such as liver problems, but the most common form is breast-fed jaundice. I didn't know this with DD and was very worried about her - she was premature and needed 48 hours of phototherapy, but remained yellow for a good few months. With Toby, the lovely peadiatrician explained while taking yet more blood from him to check his levels, that some women produce a hormone in their breast-milk that actually prevents the breakdown of the bilirubin thereby prolonging the jaundice. There is no harm in this, the babies just are yellow for longer. The benefits of breast-feeding far outweigh any risks of the jaundice as long as the levels of bilirubin are not too high - which is why they will test her blood levels. However, this didn't stop me worrying at the time about him - or hating seeing him protest at giving blood samples. If they have to do it again, ask if you can let her suck on your finger as sucking is a natural pain relief for them.

I really hope I didn't sound condescending, but I felt much happier once I understood a bit more about it all.

take care and keep smiling - baby blues are horrible - you just cry at anything! You're a fantastic mother and just keep remembering that!

love to everyone else
xxx

aww babylove, its perfectly normal to cry! i was a weeping wreck for atleast the first week or so! i remember the heel prick well too. i couldnt even watch and as soon as i heard ds cry that was it i cried histerically, it really is worse for the mums than what it is for the baby. im pleased you are getting out and about and trying to keep occupied, congrats on the breast feeding too! you sound like you have taken to motherhood so so well!

how are the night times going? cant wait to see a pic when you get time to post one woo hoo for the festive emotions!!!

Hi Everyone,

Well we took a trip to visit my work today - she was as good as gold, was asleep the whole time! It was such a nice feeling to show her off! We even went to Tesco with her and she slept through that too! The midwife went ok, of course she was telling me how i could do it better but even DP perked up and told her that we're fine!

Chooster - I'll see what i can do regarding a pic

Fettle - hehe at the tomato plant! Thanks so much for the jaundice info, i knew roughly about it but thats really helped me to understand it all. I appreciate your help

Iam - It was the heel prick thing - was horrible to watch! Thanks, it has been quite funny with the breastfeeding - i think because i'm younger, people are shocked that i'm choosing to breastfeed. Hey, my body is covered in stretchmarks anyway so whats some saggy boobs to go with it?!!!! I'm not blowing my own trumpet but i think i have taken to it quite well! However i cant sleep during the day so i'm only getting about 4 hrs of broken sleep a night! I might crash and burn soon!

Shall have a go at posting a pic now - never done this before!

Added a pic of DD

lovely pic babylove

as a notorious BF champion... it really winds me up that ANYONE should be SURPRISED that you are feeding your baby the way you are supposed to be feeding it! What does your age have to do with it??? (Not angry at you BTW!!! Just angry with stupid ignorant people in the world!!!) Well done BTW for BF... you sound a real natural

Iam- luving the festive emoticons too!

right- i need to go to bed!

cute pic babylove! i love a baby with hair!!! her hair looks just like marcys did when she was born! you do sound like natural at this mummying lark!

Ahh Fabulous Babylove well done you and welcome to the world Katelin! thanks for sharing your birth experience, so glad it went so well that it must have been awfully disappointing in the beginning with all that waiting, poor you! Take it easy now, it is SO hard having a newborn and even though people love to tell you, there is no way you appreciate it until you have one xxx

Sorry that I have been so crap at posting ladies I have been feeling so bad recently that when Xavier is in bed all I want to do is sleep! I thought that the worst of it was over and that I was only going to feel sick from now on but the last two days have been awful and I can?t stop being sick again. Going to swimming classes with Xavier on a Thurs afternoon doesn?t help; it is so hot in that pool! I really can?t believe how different this pregnancy is, it?s so much harder and I think that is even factoring in the need to care for a small child and not rest as much etc. I am so lucky that I am not commuting or having to use my brain as I did when I was pg with Xavier! My skin, hair and nails are horrendous and all the things I only read about last time are here: itchy skin, rib flare ggggggggr! Anyway, enough moaning! She has started to move around enough for me to feel it which is exciting and I have a definite bump now which I really love my cousin?s baby girl finally arrived 10 days late last Sat, her name is Paloma so we?ll soon break to news to our family!

Chooster ? hope the nice Max is around more than the aggressive one!

Fettle ? ahhh! Nativity play, lovely. Hope your poor little man is feeling better. Interesting info on the jaundice

Babylove ? gorgeous pic! apparently it?s a Scottish tradition to put money in a baby?s pram when having a look in and just from walking around our village Xavier made a few quid! sorry to hear about the worry with the weight and the jaundice, I can empathise on the weight front, Xavier lost so much and it became an obsession of mine, I was sure it was all my fault for being crap at breastfeeding he hasn?t looked back since and is a sturdy little boy now I hated that prick test, they had to come back and do it again too as they ?lost? the first one it?s apparently pregnancy not breast feeding that changes the shape of your boobs by the way, I have to say, after 6 ½ months of breastfeeding I really can?t notice any difference in them to look at from a size and shape perspective, they are a lot softer though, and I have more sticky out nipples then before which I hope bodes well for BFing my next baby as they were totally flat before.

Greedy ? well done for remembering about the jabs though!

Hello there Honeyapple and Iamamummy

Hi

Well it is official, DD is officially mine and DP's! We went and registered her birth today. Was such a strange feeling and i was doubting all of the information i was giving them. I was even staring at my name and wondered if i had spelt it right! lol, i think coz its so permanent i was scared! It was a lovely time though, DP and i were sat there discussing how we'd been waiting for years for this moment. Anyway, madam has been a complete misery ALL day! The only time she hasnt cried is when she was out in her pram. Shes been a nightmare! Shes been demanding feeding like every hour and bar the 2 hrs she was asleep in her pram, she hasnt napped since 9am this morning!

She seems to suffer really badly with wind. We had her on infacol from mon to wed night and she seemed more contented. We wind her after every feed and my midwife keeps telling me that breastfed babies dont get wind and dont therefore need winding. DP and i keep explaining that you can hear the air going through her and that it is obv causing her a lot of discomfort but she wont listen to us. We took her off the infacol because we cant keep her on it forever and this afternoon/evening we've found out the reason shes so miserable is coz the wind is back. You can hear it rumbling through her and shes ok when shes upright but as soon as you turn her horizontal, it obv gripes her. I dont know what i'm meant to do about it - any ideas?!

Honey - thanks, i'm trying really hard with the BF. I cant say im enjoying it but i know how good it is for her so i'm keeping on going hoping that i might learn to enjoy it! She is getting better at it so im becomming a little less sore. However she faffs for england! Can take up to 5 mins of tears and paddys to get her latched on coz she just throws her head around!

thanks Greedy Her hair is beginning to go a little curly at the ends. We gave her her 2nd bath tonight and washed her hair again - she didnt scream this time! It is even more punky now!!!! Its so cool, i hope she doesnt lose it!

Mrs - thanks for your thoughts Sorry to hear your pg is a bit crap (of course all pg's are good!) but you know what i mean! The sickness is a bitch, i had hyperemesis till week 16, was the worst thing ever. Keep plodding on and it doesnt help when ppl say it'll be over soon but it actually will.....Wow i havent heard about the money thing - shame, no one seems to be doing it here! I hadnt heard of the silver into the babies hand either......two ppl have done it to her though! The moneys gone into her money box. Oh no about the heal prick test being lost! I'd have gone mad if i was you! The midwife is coming back tomorrow to weigh her to see if shes put any on - i really hope she has, i cant see why she wouldnt have, shes been feeding for the world in the last 48 hrs!!!!!

Right, best scoot. Finally managed to get her to sleep, i started this post 2 hrs ago! She fell asleep on my shoulder and i've just managed to transfer her to her pillow without waking her up. Man i hope she chills out tonight!

Speak soon

Hi

Well it is official, DD is officially mine and DP's! We went and registered her birth today. Was such a strange feeling and i was doubting all of the information i was giving them. I was even staring at my name and wondered if i had spelt it right! lol, i think coz its so permanent i was scared! It was a lovely time though, DP and i were sat there discussing how we'd been waiting for years for this moment. Anyway, madam has been a complete misery ALL day! The only time she hasnt cried is when she was out in her pram. Shes been a nightmare! Shes been demanding feeding like every hour and bar the 2 hrs she was asleep in her pram, she hasnt napped since 9am this morning!

She seems to suffer really badly with wind. We had her on infacol from mon to wed night and she seemed more contented. We wind her after every feed and my midwife keeps telling me that breastfed babies dont get wind and dont therefore need winding. DP and i keep explaining that you can hear the air going through her and that it is obv causing her a lot of discomfort but she wont listen to us. We took her off the infacol because we cant keep her on it forever and this afternoon/evening we've found out the reason shes so miserable is coz the wind is back. You can hear it rumbling through her and shes ok when shes upright but as soon as you turn her horizontal, it obv gripes her. I dont know what i'm meant to do about it - any ideas?!

Honey - thanks, i'm trying really hard with the BF. I cant say im enjoying it but i know how good it is for her so i'm keeping on going hoping that i might learn to enjoy it! She is getting better at it so im becomming a little less sore. However she faffs for england! Can take up to 5 mins of tears and paddys to get her latched on coz she just throws her head around!

thanks Greedy Her hair is beginning to go a little curly at the ends. We gave her her 2nd bath tonight and washed her hair again - she didnt scream this time! It is even more punky now!!!! Its so cool, i hope she doesnt lose it!

Mrs - thanks for your thoughts Sorry to hear your pg is a bit crap (of course all pg's are good!) but you know what i mean! The sickness is a bitch, i had hyperemesis till week 16, was the worst thing ever. Keep plodding on and it doesnt help when ppl say it'll be over soon but it actually will.....Wow i havent heard about the money thing - shame, no one seems to be doing it here! I hadnt heard of the silver into the babies hand either......two ppl have done it to her though! The moneys gone into her money box. Oh no about the heal prick test being lost! I'd have gone mad if i was you! The midwife is coming back tomorrow to weigh her to see if shes put any on - i really hope she has, i cant see why she wouldnt have, shes been feeding for the world in the last 48 hrs!!!!!

Right, best scoot. Finally managed to get her to sleep, i started this post 2 hrs ago! She fell asleep on my shoulder and i've just managed to transfer her to her pillow without waking her up. Man i hope she chills out tonight!

Speak soon

Babylove - congrats on being official! I remember the day we registered DS, it was hell. He was 3 days old, my firm had paid my salary into the wrong bank account and all our dds were bouncing so whilst DH registered DS I went between 2 banks trying to sort it out and ended up in tears crying "I shouldn't be here, I've just had a baby"

With regard to the infacol, if it's helping why stop? I think it's effect builds up over time anyway. It's not dangerous or anything. DS got it every feed until he was 12 weeks - we called it his "starter" and I think it worked for him. He was bf too.

My DS was a bit like your DD in the beginning, wanted to be held and fed constantly and even lights in the house "oversensitized" him and he wouldn't sleep. Hang in there!